Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Technique Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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Q8 TECHNIQUE 1915 tertainment in a small hall to a dollar-and-a-half entertainment in the Hollis Street Theatre. The astounded committee pleaded bank- ruptcy and consequent inability to meet what they gloomily prophesied would be a certain and appalling deficit. The Old Friend expressed willingness to so far back the faith in Tech already expressed as to formally agree to meet any deficit that might occur, if the aHair were carried out under competent and experienced direction. Thus reas- sured, the committee, albeit trem- blingly, embarked upon a-to them -shoreless and uncharted sea, to find on the evening of the 12th of May, 1899, that they had entered the haven of a very triumphant success. The Tech Show was an established fact. The precedent was estab- lished for all time to come, and, in its Hrst experiment, the Show was the joyful and amazed winner of some hundreds of dollars, which should presently enable the Ath- letic Association to arise, phoenix- like, from the depths of its humilia- tion. That was the beginning of the Tech Show. The venturesome, successful, and now historic com- mittee of management were: Milton Webster Hall, 1900, general director and business manager, George Car- los Winslow, 1899, ticket manager, James Bradford Laws, 1901, man- ager of oliog Allan Winter Rowe, 1901, manager of sketch, Harry Leonard Morse, 1899, press agent. Since the Hrst Show, each year has seen fresh venture of Tech into the histrionic Held, and each venture has shown a marked increase in Hnancial success, if a somewhat fluctuating artistic standard. 6' It was the hope of the Old Friend, through whose suggestion the Erst Tech Show came to be, that it might accomplish very much more than the financing of the Athletic Asso- ciation, desirable as this consumma- tion was in itself, and as relieving the strain long and generously borne by the friends of athletics in the Institute. The Old Friend had long dreamed of the Tech Show as a nucleus and strong promoter of social life in the Institute, as bring- ing men of widely varying general interests together as fellow-workers for their alma mater in a new field, and as strongly fostering the demo- cratic spirit, which must be the spirit of Tech if Tech is ever to stand assured in the Hrst place as a maker of workmen. These objects the Show has in great measure helped to accom- plish, and in so much the Old Friend's dream has come true. From the first the Show has called to itself the Httest men, on the sole ground of their Htness. It is to be earnestly hoped that the Show will never fall below its original high 5 .s ,ff x n mmf. 9 ci x , 1 : -w 4, , 1, ? .a::5'..'Wa::c:u51,1Li'3'-Tj jQZ,.:f.4'21F : ,g -' .. .. '-H'-,,,.. W . --F . BH' war r -'- E ::,'...ff.:7f ,BE QM x.::.mn'E?5Fl,Ag5W:::u,,, ,Nksk - . . ,,,, ' lriinj L- .....::'-5f!77lli'lfiKiiGlTCLG5'r'-2jQf-1- '4 I 'fig l Ulfffflfmiiwmglwgfimiffra LL E I. TEH: V 1'-555,55 Um. .3 jA'ffQ:fmfff,1z7z1 A 1 5 g,,:.,5Lsm,:,mMgfg'gqm?TqE1,igQQ,gXXRg Egzgfgil . .1 . 4 45, . : Ef:::': ,,,??::,':i,g,':::ul.'::,w.':c'f,'-572. i 2 E E 2.5.1 '. -flxx g i l? L. . nl .'. I 2 'I '. 5 .iL'4'RC'!Z4'!:15E'L',!ifZ .? ,:

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1915 TECHNIQUE Q7 student generation, events of a past decade must be regarded as such- are in danger of oblivion. Some, of necessity, cease to exist with the disappearance of the thing or event which gave them birth. Others, in which the original cause persists, are so altered as to lose all semblance of their earlier form. Cognizant of these facts, it was With an especial pleasure and in- terest that the Writer received a request to draw up some record of the beginnings of the Tech Show. By rare good fortune there Was in his possession a brief statement of the ShoW's origin, Written by the one most concerned in it and best able to describe it. This may be given in its original form :- 6'To the Tech undergraduate of to-day, the Tech Show seems so much a matter of course that he can hardly imagine that the early spring ever arrived Without bring- ing the Tech Show with it. The Show to be given this year will be the sixteenth in the history of this now thoroughly established annual festivity. But With this taken for granted, it is a Tech generation, and more, since the Show had its beginning. There is not a little danger that the origin and purpose of the Show may so soon retire into remote tradition as to become myth- ical. Therefore the Venerable Ones who Watched the ShoW's beginnings think it Wise to leave authoritative record of them. In the late Winter of 1899 the Athletic Association of M. I. T. found itself, 'not to put too ine a point upon it' as Mr. Micavvber would say, 'bankruptedf This pain- ful fact was impressed upon the collective mind of the Association by the refusal of certain Boston firms, Who shall be nameless, to furnish any further medals for dis- tribution by the Association until at least some share of the last medals furnished had been paid for. This condition of things was the more embarrassing as several medals had been earned and not yet presented, and the Winners of them were be- coming explicit in the expression of their opinion of the Association. Money Was imperatively in demand. The Association appointed a com- mittee of Ways and means. That committee decided that the aggre- gate talent of Tech might be equal to the presentation of a Minstrel Show, for admission to Which the friends of Tech might be coerced into paying a quarter each. Coun- sel as to the most effective method of getting up the aforesaid Show Was sought of an Old Friend of Tech. This friend expressed an un- expected faith in the artistic re- sources of Tech, and very strongly urged an extending of the Minstrel idea from the twenty-Eve-cent en- ' .... a...-,..,T, ,1.....-. :.. . . 5, A5 : ,. ,y:,'4n5Aii::'.iaLa..-:f::L:E:n2f1mgL- gr 'gg w':::::,2:f'r,:.L::M.'.3:l3'5,7',g1' 1'--f -. -J a . I E 5 --- - '-2 Lewfra-maaf.1 .'ff.m's-w-- -- -2 '- .-...ii nq-Yfgm 5 A L ,W - 'li -1 ,QI QA, V 'W I s.-V fam i 125 ' 'u wfffe7 u fffWM'f!,9jQs,,.w-f. 4- in 2 ada.. 3,425 llil!2L2ZZ?iZWE an f : : E: : -E,n:T :ann .,.....,......mQxu...-. N X E :gm-Leu - - I IX PM .faq ik I - 3 ---,,.m,.f,,7.m...,,.....,..,.,1 .,.....+:5 ......... !k,.....,-......,.,.,.... ,, . e - - - 1- - A ' -. . V: f ? . . ..a-..,........,-,,... M..-.......-. Eu.. . . . . 4-L, . f xKn5,1.m I ' f' .

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1915 TECHNIQUE Q9 level, in this respect, at least. It is to be hoped that those in whose hands its fortune rests from year to year, will remember that, as it came to be in the immediate inter- ests of the athletics of the Institute, so its loyalty should inseparably hold to those interests. And, as it arose out of Tech as a whole, and to the glory of Tech as a whole, in this spirit of high democracy it should be steadily carried onf' The writer of the above, and the Friend', there mentioned, was the late Mrs. Evelyn Greenleaf Suther- land, tenderly remembered by a past generation of Tech men. Not only was loss safeguarded by her own personal financial guarantee, but positive success insured by her other efforts. Through her word, the Hollis Street Theatre became available for the initial production at a time when college shows were given in halls, through her influ- ence, well-known composers were persuaded to write songs for the production, and, Hnally, the book of this first Show was the product of her pen. Her wishes and intent in her labors for the Show are given in her statement quoted above. Her interest in and affection for Tech are best evidenced by her gift to it. It is interesting to note in the tale of the early managers that the ma- jority were men closely afliliated with the athletic interests of the Institute. Winslow and Corbett were managersg Hall, Murray, and Rowe, members of the Track Team, Laws, the centre of the Varsity Football Team, MOI'S6, on the Hare and Hounds, and an original mem- ber of the Advisory Council,-to name but a part. This is hardly to be wondered at, considering the genesis of the Show, but serves to illustrate further the very close re- lationship existing between the two branches of undergraduate activity. Of the later years of the Show, but little here needs to be said. That it is amply fulfilling the earlier hopes, and yearly bringing nearer to realization its many potentialities, requires no affirmation. For its future, the present writer can do no more than echo the words quoted above, adding the wish that, in meeting its ever increasing oppor- tunities and responsibilities, it may contribute a modest share to the triumphant tale of successful years to be made by THE NEw TECH- NOLOGY. ALLAN W. ROWE. TI-IE TECHNOLOGY CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION HE TECHNOLOGY CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- TION seeks to maintain a positive Christian influence among all the men at the Institute. This ,. . , f ........- if-.2i.i....L..4-Z--ix. .,. ir ,E : ,zf E, - -2-.-s :: : ,,, .11-:::v.....,.- -'.:.-:.a::a:,w.':m::-.. -' A, E. -.3 .:':::v::zw,:::.g,.. Jfamx .... L : : , .-Jn: r . .J . HRW.. X -S' w U ...+....,,T,.f,-1,11-:ww-EEHM X' : , : : rm,- gr? . 1- : r-1, ,Lf ,-m m, ,Qi ,, IC, ., g. g - E I j--4,5111 ff I V IEE? 'viffmfrsm.2z'.'44:fe.f:4v241cq1'f,51'44, N, .x iq 5 .. .,...,...- :iiEE::w: fffQp',swzsmv:ff,..f.s' - mm ,Q ,Q - 3 ' walk- A : -E 3 -E-mamma ::,-:C',64.Z'.??5f15E:s:t,..,,:gE Q5 :L:: ' 5:12:,':-1::::::,',':,v,',':v,'1iWZ 1 1 Q Q 1 3. :J i. .--ix 'ILA T ix .l 3 V. 1 1 ' 1 'FR.WRC'L A2'!:?m'J,!, i:.'W:l. I 4155-ua 4